Wire fencing.



No. 736,088. PATENTED AUG. 11, 1903.

W. GRATTAN.

WIRE FENGING.

APPLIUATION FILED JAN. 5. 1903.

.10 MODEL.

UNITED STATES V .lPatented August 11, 1903;

WILLIAM GRATTAN, OF MELBOURNE, VICTORIA, AUSTRALIA.

WIRE FENCING.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 73 6,088, dated August 11, 1903.

Application filed January 5, 1903; Serial No. 137.845. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that 1, WILLIAM GRATTAN, a subject of the King of Great Britain, residing at No. 454 Collins street, Melbourne, in the State of Victoria, Australia, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in WVirei Fencing, of which the following is a specification.

This invention has been devised to provide improvements in wire fencing whereby certain defects at present arising in suchstructures are minimized or obviated.

My invention applies particularly to that class of fence wherein two or more wires are employed, running lengthwise through perforated posts or the like supports, and to some of which posts the wires are secured after being tightened by straining. At the present time these wires sag or fall from the approximately straight line to which they have been strained. This falling is brought about by difierent causessuch, for instance, as change of weather, owing to expansion and contraction by heat or cold, and more particularly by the straining upward or downward, as the case may be, of the wires by persons passing through the fence or by animals pressing against the wires.

My invention consists in employing one or more springs at suitable intervals in or along the lines of wire, so that when the latter is tightened or strained by usual straining devices the spring or springs will be brought into a condition of tension or compression, as the case may be, and tend to keep the wire taut and in proper alinement. When, for instance, a person passes through the fence and lifts or presses down the wire, the latter upon being released will resume its previous tightness or alinement by reason of the tension of the spring or springs.

Referring now to the accompanying sheet of drawings, which illustrates the invention, Figure 1 shows a panel of wire fencing with the invention applied. Fig. 2 shows spiral spring and wire connections with same drawn to a larger scale, and Fig. 3 is an end view of the same.

By preference I employ short but very stanch steel spiral springs A with their ends a a bent to extend diametrically across their extremities.

B B represent wires that pass through the posts D and are each threaded through the spiral springs A and secured to an end of same, the wire B being thus secured to the end a and the wire B to the end a When the wires thus connected to a spring are tightened up, the spring will be in compression and will exert a continuous force to keep the wires tight.

It is obvious that the wire B might be secured to the end a and the wire B to the end a; but with this arrangement the spring, when wires are tightened, would be in tension and would exert a pull on each wire. This arrangement is indicated at A, Fig. 1.

I claim as my invention Means for keeping fence-wires taut and in proper alinement, comprising a helical spring A, having its ends a, a bent to extend dimetrically across its extremities, the adjacent ends of the fence-wire being passed through the said spring and secured to the ends a, a respectively, substantially as shown and described. I

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

\VILLIAM GBATTAN.

Witnesses:

A. O. SAOHSE, A. HARKER. 

